US President Barack Obama has reiterated his pledge to negotiate with Iran on concerns over its nuclear energy program, once again rejecting Israeli insistence on taking military action against the country.
“When I’m consulting with Bibi (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) as I have over the last several years on this issue, my message to him will be the same as before: If we can resolve it diplomatically that is a more lasting solution,” Obama said in a Thursday interview with the Israeli regime’s Channel 2 TV station just days before his first presidential visit to the occupied Palestinian land.
Obama, however, further invoked much publicized Israeli claims that a “nuclear Iran” would constitute a “red line” and that he will “keep all options on the table,” without elaborating, although the phrase has widely been interpreted as other measures, including military force.
Obama made no mention of the Israeli regime’s undeclared possession of an estimated 300 nuclear warheads and the threat it poses to the region and the world.
While the American president further claimed success of various unilateral US-led sanctions against the Islamic Republic in efforts to force the nation to give up its right to an IAEA-supervised nuclear energy program, he totally ignored Tel Aviv’s persistent refusal to allow any international inspection of its nuclear facilities and its denial to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The remarks come as Iranian authorities have repeatedly rejected any notion that it is pursuing a non-civilian nuclear effort, insisting, however, that as a long-time signatory of the NPT and member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it will never give up its right to a civilian nuclear program.
Top Iranian officials have also made clear that any military bid by US or the Israeli regime against the country will prompt an immediate and severe response that will extend beyond the region and will include the destruction of the entity that occupies Palestine.
In the interview Obama also reiterated that he had no plans to release convicted and jailed Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, whom the Tel Aviv regime has been rigorously pressuring to set free after 28 years in a US prison for spying for them.
Obama is set to arrive in the occupied Palestine on Wednesday for a three-day visit reportedly for the sole purpose of conveying American government’s unconditional commitment to the Israeli regime.
MFB/MFB